


A Night to Remember

by NHT101



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Earp Curse (Wynonna Earp), Bullying, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Dead Ward Earp, Drunk Driving, F/F, Hardy Champ Bashing, Hardy Champ Being an Asshole, No Smut, Pre-Relationship, Wayhaught - Freeform, the prom musical - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29490030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NHT101/pseuds/NHT101
Summary: A high school Wynonna Earp AU nobody asked for based on the musical “The Prom.” No curse exists, they’re just a bunch of regular teenagers dealing with the problems that come along with young love.
Relationships: Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35





	1. A Lunch to Remember

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time ever writing anything like this so please be kind!! And enjoy!

Chapter 1

The young girl closes her eyes and counts to five. Her hands are clenched in fists of nerves. She can feel her heart practically beating out of her throat. The girl knew she would be nervous, but not  _ this  _ petrified. The double doors she stands behind are the only things between her and the best night of her life….or the worst night of her life...or just an average night in her life. She honestly doesn’t know. She has run through every scenario in her head of how the night would unfold. Some ending in disaster, others in pure euphoria. There was only one way for Nicole to find out the true ending of this story. She straightens out her bow tie one last time before stepping through the double doors.

_ 1 Month Earlier _

“No one’s gonna know.”

“They’re gonna know!”

The day started like every other day at the Homestead: Nicole and Wynonna arguing about some frugal thing in the kitchen while waiting for Waverly to get ready for school. Today’s topic of discussion: Nicole’s freshly chopped hair. The red head knew it was an impulsive decision, but it was one her best friend Wynonna (unsurprisingly) encouraged. 

“Don’t lie to me, I know it looks like shit,” Nicole said with a slight devastation in her voice.

“It really doesn’t! Is it a little uneven? Sure. Does it look like someone cut it off while being blindfolded? Absolutely. But it fits your brand,” Wynonna teased Nicole.

“And what would my brand be,” Nicole asked, anticipating the punchline.

“Anything but straight,” Wynonna replied with a laugh.

Nicole slapped Wynonna’s arm without hesitation.

“Dude! Shut up!” Panic was written all over Nicole’s face. Wynonna’s the only person Nicole had come out to. She wasn’t ashamed of who she is, Nicole just knew what her town was like, and what her town accepted. Being gay was NOT on the list of approved identities in Purgatory.

“I was kidding! But, fuck, have you been working out because that HURT,” Wynonna said as she rubbed her arm where Nicole had just punched her.

“You know these guns don’t lie, Earp.” Nicole rolls up the sleeves on her flannel and flexes her muscles.

“Woah, isn’t it a little early in the morning for a gun show?” It was Waverly Earp, who entered the kitchen with a grace that Nicole could only describe as “angelic”. 

Nicole tried to reply. She tried to say something, anything. But she couldn’t. Nicole can never seem to get her words right around Waverly. 

“Please, those are barely water guns,” Wynonna interrupted, trying to fill the silence that Nicole had made. “You ready to go, baby girl?” Waverly nods her head and walks toward the front door. Wynonna gives Nicole a look.

“What,” Nicole asked, genuinely confused by Wynonna’s face.

“You need to get your shit together, Haught. Your gay is showing,” Wynonna whispered as she walked out of the kitchen.

Wynonna could be a major pain in the ass sometimes, but Nicole knew that any of the assholery she experienced was done out of love. Nicole grabs her backpack and follows the two Earp sisters out of the Homestead.

…

With Wynonna’s truck being what could only be described as shrapnel with wheels, Nicole offered to drive the Earps to school until Wynonna can get her truck fixed. 

Though Wynonna knew of Nicole’s crush on her sister, she would never make things easy for her. 

“Shotgun!” Wynonna yelled.

The disappointment on Nicole’s face reads immediately, though she tries to snap out of it as soon as she realizes what her face was saying. Waverly hops in the backseat and Nicole starts the car. Since she did call shotgun, Wynonna gets to pick the music for their morning ride to school.

“Please, just pick something that isn’t too loud,” Nicole pleaded to her best friend.

Almost on cue, Wynonna begins blasting  _ American Idiot _ by Green Day.

“What did you say?” Wynonna yells over the music, knowing full well what she was doing. 

Nicole was annoyed, but it was nice to see her friend smiling again. It was a tough year for the Earp family. The patriarch of the family, Ward Earp, had recently passed away, forcing the two sisters to begin living with their Aunt Gus. News travels fast in small towns, and before they knew it, everyone heard of the tragic drunk driving accident that led to their father’s death. 

Ward was drunk (as he usually was) and had just gotten into a fight with Wynonna. He grabbed his keys, stormed out of the house, and took his truck (the one he shared with Wynonna) out for a drive. Unfortunately, he never came back.

Of course stories get twisted and warped as they get passed along, which is why everyone (except for Waverly and Nicole) blamed Wynonna for his death. They say it was her “disrespectful and trashy language” that caused Ward to kill himself. Wynonna even blamed herself for it.

Nicole was by Wynonna’s side through it all, and to see her friend smiling was a beautiful sight. A sight that Nicole wasn’t going to ruin just because she would rather be listening to Sufjan Stevens in the morning.

…

April in Purgatory was possibly the most beautiful time of the year for the town. Flowers and plants were blooming everywhere, people were nicer, the air felt lighter, it just felt...good. What made it feel even better? Nicole and Wynonna knowing they only had 2 months of high school left.

Nicole pulled into the parking lot of Purgatory High as Wynonna leaned out of her window and shouted, “only two months left with you assholes and then I never have to see any of you ugly assholes again!” She wrapped it all up by raising her middle finger high to the sky. Nicole grabbed Wynonna’s shirt and pulled her back in the car. 

“And you wonder why no one likes you,” Nicole said. 

“I know why they don’t like me, I just think it’s a shitty reason to not like me.”

“That’s not true though, is it?” Waverly speaking up for the first time during the entire car ride. 

“What, that they all hate me?” Wynonna questioned humorously.

“No, that you’re never coming back after you graduate.”

Nicole had just parked the car as the words escaped Waverly’s lips. The atmosphere was tense, to say the least. 

“Waves, I would never just leave you,” Wynonna replied. 

“You’ve done it before,” Waverly muttered under her breath. 

“Did I not come back?” Wynonna quickly responded. 

“Yeah…” Waverly’s thoughts trailed off as she tried to calm herself down. 

“Okay, then, glad we settled that,” Wynonna said as she exited Nicole’s car.

Nicole sat in the driver’s seat, backpack in hand, about to get out of the car, until she noticed Waverly hadn’t moved. 

“Hey, everything okay?” The words fell out of Nicole’s mouth before she even had a chance to stop herself. She still faced forward and was looking at Waverly through the rearview mirror.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Waverly said, trying to brush off her current state of being.

“You know it’s okay to not be okay, right?” 

Nicole turned around and locked eyes with Waverly. No matter how many times she’s seen her, Nicole was never not taken aback by the girl’s beauty. Nicole couldn’t help but blush. “You’ve been through hell and back this past year, you’re allowed to breathe.”

Waverly smiled and looked down. “Thank you, Nicole.” Waverly reached for Nicole’s hand, squeezed it, and jumped out of the car.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Yo, ginger with the fucked up hair, get out of your car,” Wynonna yelled as she knocked on the car window.

Nicole jumped out of the car and began walking into the school with Wynonna by her side. 

“What was that about?” Wynonna asked, pointing at Waverly who had now met up with her friends. 

“Oh, it was nothing,” Nicole said, holding back a smile after the love of her life had just touched her hand. 

“Cool,” Wynonna replied, still a bit skeptical.

“HEY LESBO!”

Nicole and Wynonna turned around and were greeted by the school’s star quarterback and all around dick, Champ Hardy.

“Nice haircut, did you get it done while you were scissoring each other last night?” Champ laughed, thinking he had just made the best joke to ever grace a human’s ear.

“The homophobia is getting old, Champ. Maybe stick to something you’re actually good at, like sucking your own dick.” Wynonna practically screamed in the senior parking lot. It got quite a few “OHHHH”s and “OOOOOO”s from the crowd.

_ Classic Wynonna _ , Nicole thought.

Champ, left without another insult just said, “fuck you,” and shoved past the two of them, running to catch up with Waverly.

Wynonna was a pain in the ass sometimes, but she always stood up for the people she loves. Underneath that hard leather jacket is a big heart.

“You know, you didn’t have to do that,” Nicole said. 

“I know, but I wanted to,” Wynonna responded as she flipped her hair and began to walk ahead of Nicole.

Nicole shook her head and proceeded to enter Purgatory High.

…

RIIIING

Lunchtime. 

Typically, Nicole and Wynonna spent lunch sitting in the corner, Nicole studying for a test and Wynonna annoying her. Sometimes Waverly would join them. This would cause Nicole to stop studying all together, but allowed Wynonna to continue her annoyance. 

Today’s lunch, however, was different.

When they walked in the cafeteria, Wynonna and Nicole were greeted by the one thing Wynonna hated the most.

“Ah, shit, it’s prom season.”

Everywhere they looked, there were banners, balloons, posters, everything you could imagine that promoted the upcoming Senior Prom that was one month away.

“Do people really still like this kind of stuff?” Just as Wynonna finished asking her question, someone tapped the two of them on the shoulder. When they turned around they were greeted by the bright smile of Mercedes Gardener.

“Have either of you bought your ticket to the prom yet?” Mercedes’ enthusiasm was enough to make Wynonna gag.

“Not yet, no,” Nicole kindly responded, nudging Wynonna as if to say  _ Be nice. _

“Well, tickets are on sale until Friday. We sell them every lunch period. And you don’t even have to bring a date! So make sure you don’t miss out on the biggest event of the year!” Mercedes proclaimed, and then skipped away.

“What the hell was that date comment?” Wynonna asked. 

“Well, if I had to take a guess, she was trying to say ‘make sure to come to the dance but only if you bring a date of the opposite gender which obviously you aren’t going to do because you’re a raging homosexual.’” Nicole answered.

“Jeez, how long have you had that jab lying around?”

“My whole life, Wynonna, my whole life.”

The duo proceeded to find their seats in the corner of the cafeteria and began their usual routine. That was, until Waverly came over, prompting Nicole to slam her Calc textbook shut.

“Hey, baby girl what’s up-...” Wynonna stops short when she looks at her sister who is on the verge of tears. “Who the fuck am I beating up? No one gets to hurt my family except for me.”

Wynonna practically jumps out of her seat before Nicole grabs her arm. 

“Settle down there, cowboy, You get into another fight and you get expelled, remember? Waves, what happened?” Nicole’s heart panged seeing Waverly so upset. 

“It’s Champ, he was saying all this mean stuff about you and Wynonna and I told him to stop and then he said no and I said yes and then he said no and then I said ‘okay, then we’re done,’ and now I’m here talking to you two about it.” Waverly was barely able to make it through the entire story without crying. Nicole’s rage increased with every tear that fell from Waverly’s cheeks.

“There’s something else,” Wynonna said, “there’s something else you’re not telling us I can see it in your eyes. Waverly, what else happened?”

“After I broke up with him, he sort of, pushed me to the ground.”

“He WHAT?” Nicole was fuming. Before Wynonna could even get a word out, Nicole was storming towards Champ’s table.

“Oh, shit,” Wynonna said and ran after her best friend.

“Hey Hardy!” Nicole shouted so loud, the entire cafeteria went silent. 

“How can I help you today-...” Before Champ could finish his snarky comment, Nicole punched him square in the jaw, knocking him out of his seat and onto the floor.

“You think you’re so tough? Let me tell you something,” Nicole got very close to Champ’s face and said, “if you ever lay a hand on Waverly again, you’ll get more than just a punch to the face.”

Nicole began to walk away, but not before Champ said, “like I care about the threat of a dyke.” The cafeteria was silent. Wynonna started charging at Champ but Nicole intercepted her.

“You know what, Champ?” Nicole got on top of the closest lunch table she could find, “I’m sick of yours and everyone else’s bullshit in this school. Guess what, I am gay. Is that what you want to hear? Congratulations, you figured it out. You cracked the code! I’m a massive homo, now, will you please get the fuck up off the floor and shut up before I show you why you should care about the threat of a dyke?”

Somehow, the cafeteria got even more silent.

_ Holy shit, did I just-...  _ Nicole thought to herself. She was petrified, frozen. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t speak, she couldn’t blink, she couldn’t even breathe. Slowly everyone turned their attention away from Nicole and back to their lunches. Wynonna tugged on Nicole’s shirt, ushering her to get off of the table. Somehow, Nicole managed to get off of the table and Wynonna directed her to the hallway.

“Uhhh, dude? Do you realize what you just did?” Wynonna asked as they stood against a row of lockers.

“Uh, could you give me a quick recap because I think I’m having a stroke,” Nicole said.

“You just came out,” Wynonna reminded Nicole. 

“In front of the whole school.” Nicole added. She stood against the lockers like a deer in headlights.

“How are...I mean do you...are you okay?” Wynonna finally managed to ask. Emotions weren’t Wynonna’s forte, but she knew her friend needed her, and she was going to do whatever she could to be there for her.

“I’m...I don’t know how I am. Wait, where’s Waverly?” Nicole, starting to gain her senses, remembered how this whole thing began. 

“She’s fine, don’t worry about her,” Wynonna said, “right now I’m worried about you, and your hand holy shit!”

Nicole looked down and saw that her knuckles were swollen and bright red, having just punched the life out of Champ Hardy.

“I can’t even feel it, honestly,” Nicole remarked.

“That’s the adrenaline, if you don’t put some ice on it now you’re going to feel it sooner than you want.”

Nicole turns around to see Waverly, standing there with a bag of ice. She smiled at Nicole sweetly.

“Oh, thanks,” Nicole grabbed the bag of ice and put it on her hand, wincing immediately.

“Here, please, let me,” Waverly took the ice back and gently placed it on Nicole’s knuckles, causing the two of them to hold hands. 

Nicole’s face turned more red than her hair. It was a nice moment, until…

“Okay, we have two options here,” Wynonna inserted herself between the two of them. “We either wait in the hallway for the principal to call us down, or we run before anyone even realizes we were here.”

Just then, on the loudspeaker:

“NICOLE HAUGHT PLEASE REPORT TO THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY.”

“Well, that’s my cue to run, so, will either of you be joining me?” Wynonna pulled her car keys out of her pocket and dangled them in front of Nicole’s face.

“No, I’ll go, might as well explain myself as best as I can.” 

Wynonna nods and starts running to the parking lot.

“Let me walk you there,” Waverly said, putting her hand back on the ice pack, holding Nicole’s hand.

“You don’t have to,” Nicole insisted.

“No, it’s okay.” Waverly pulled Nicole along as the two headed to the principal’s office. “So, how are you feeling?” Waverly asked with sincere concern. Nicole had to stare at the ground so as to not get lost in Waverly’s eyes.

“My hand isn’t that bad, it’s just kinda sore now.”

“I wasn’t talking about your hand.”

“Oh, that.”

That was honestly the last thing Nicole wanted to talk about right now, especially with Waverly. Partly because Nicole didn’t even know how to start the conversation.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“It’s okay.”

There was a moment of silence, neither of them knew where to take the conversation, but neither of them wanted the conversation to end. 

“I want to thank you for standing up for me.”

“It’s no problem.”

“No problem? Nicole, look at your hand!” Waverly lifted Nicole’s hand right in front of her face. It was getting redder and more swollen by the minute. “A busted hand is a bit of a problem.”

“It was worth it,” Nicole smiled subtly as the two stopped in front of the main office. “Well, wish me luck! And thanks for the ice.”

“You’re a strong one Nicole Haught,” Waverly went on her tiptoes and placed a gentle kiss on Nicole’s cheek, “you’ve got this.”

Waverly walked away as Nicole stood there in total disbelief. In the past 10 minutes, she had punched Champ Hardy, came out to the entire school, and got kissed (on the cheek) by Waverly.

_ What the fuck is my life? _ Nicole wondered as she entered the principal’s office.


	2. A Drive to Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Nicole's confrontation with Champ, she has to face the consequences of her actions, the good and the bad.

Nicole entered Principal Nedley’s office filled with anxiety from head to toe. Now that her adrenaline has cooled off, she realized everything that had happened in the past 20 minutes.

_ Nicole Haught, what the fuck have you done. _

“Ms. Haught, please take a seat.”

Principal Nedley sat behind his desk. There was a slight ease that fell over Nicole when she saw Mr. Nedley’s face. When she sat down, Mr. Nedley noticed Nicole’s hand.

“That’s quite the bruise you have there.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m sure you know how I got it at this point,” Nicole said, looking at the ground, avoiding any eye contact at all.

“Pretend I didn’t know. Tell me what happened in the lunchroom today.”

_ Remember Nicole, “I” statements and the objective truth. _

“Well, Champ Hardy pushed Waverly to the ground so I went up to him, told him he shouldn’t do that, he called me a gay slur, I punched him, I came out to the entire student body, and now I’m sitting here with you.”

Nicole was shocked by how quickly she was able to summarize such a pivotal moment in her life. Mr. Nedley was about to say something until Nicole started speaking again.

“And I understand that there’s a zero tolerance policy for physical violence, but technically, Champ incited the violence when he pushed Waverly to the ground.”

Mr. Nedley nodded his head and tried to jump in again, but Nicole continued.

“And I will take whatever punishment you give me because I’ll be going down knowing I did what was right.”

“Are you done?” Mr. Nedley asked, wanting to make sure Nicole was truly finished this time. 

“...yes.”

“Okay, first things first, I will have to give you some form of punishment due to the violence in the cafeteria today. That being said, I want you to know I am also suspending Champ Hardy for a week and he is prohibited from attending the prom due to his actions and words today.”

Nicole was shocked, to say the least. She did not anticipate Champ getting into any trouble as he was the school’s “Quarterback Homecoming King Darling.”

“To tell you the truth Nicole, we take our no physical violence policy very seriously, but something I take just as seriously is harassment and verbal violence as well. If you tell anyone, I will deny it, but Champ got what he deserved.”

Nicole’s head was reeling.  _ Did I bump my head and wake up in the middle of some alternate universe where Purgatory isn’t a homophobic wasteland? _

“Well, thank you Mr. Nedley. It’s nice to know that I have someone on my side,” Nicole smiled and released the tension that she had been holding in her body since she walked into the office. “Are you going to tell my parents?”

Nicole had not come out to her parents yet and was absolutely dreading it. Her dad wouldn’t even let her watch Ellen growing up. ELLEN! The thought of them finding out this way made her sick to her stomach.

“I have to tell your parents about the incident, however, it is not my place to discuss anything that was said in the cafeteria today. So to answer your question, I will not mention anything about you coming out.”

Mr. Nedley, to Nicole’s surprise, was the biggest ally she had ever met. 

“Mr. Nedley, what exactly is my punishment?”

“Oh, right. I  _ could _ suspend you but I don’t believe you and Champ should have the same repercussions. So, you will now be staying after school, every Wednesday, to help Mercedes Gardner and the rest of the planning committee with building this year’s prom.”

Nicole would’ve taken EXPULSION over this nonsense.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything else I can do? Shine your shoes? Wash your car? Lick the floors clean of the entire school?”

“My decision is final. Now, Ms. Haught, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go talk with Champ’s parents about their homophobic son with the broken nose.”

Mr. Nedley stood up and opened his door to escort Nicole out. 

“You have the rest of the day off today to take care of your hand, and it looks like you’re going to need a little bit more than just ice.”

Nicole exited Mr. Nedley’s office and felt so much better than she could have ever imagined. On her way out of the main office, she passed by Champ, who was too concerned with his nose to even see Nicole. This is the first time Nicole actually had a chance to see the damage she had done. And there was a LOT of damage. She had to stifle a grin walking past him as she exited the office.

…

  
  


A few minutes later, Nicole walked out of the school to find Wynonna standing next to Nicole’s car with Henry Holliday (most people just called him Doc). Doc had graduated last year but him and Wynonna always found a way back to each other. It was kind of romantic, but Nicole would never admit that to Wynonna.

“How long before you remembered that you don’t have a car to drive yourself home in?”

“Maybe like 5 minutes. That’s why I called Doc to come and pick me up. He was here faster than you can say Dollywood.”

“It is the least I could do for you, Ms. Earp.” Doc tipped his stetson as if to say ‘You’re welcome.’ “Are you okay, Nicole?”

“Please will everyone stop asking me that! I’m fine! I’m heading home. Wynonna, do you want to come with me or do you want a ride from Docstache over there.”

“I’ll come with you Haught, thanks anyway pal.” Wynonna gave Doc a friendly punch in the arm and entered Nicole’s car. Doc nodded and walked toward his car that he strangely named Charlene.

Nicole was in the car for no more than ten seconds before Wynonna was grilling her with questions.

“Did you get expelled? How pissed was Nedley? Did he get red? I bet his face got bright red. Also, holy shit you just came out to the school. Is Nedley going to tell your parents? Did you see Champ’s dumb face?”

“One at a time, Earp, please I’m still trying to process everything myself.” Nicole started her engine and began driving out of the school parking lot. “First of all, no, I did not get expelled but I wish I did. Nedley didn’t get mad at all. He is not telling my parents. And Champ’s face looked just as dumb as usual.”

“Up top for not getting expelled!” Wynonna raised her hand for a hi-five but Nicole was too focused on driving and left Wynonna hanging. “What do you mean you wish you had gotten expelled?”

_ Oh, shit.  _ Nicole thought,  _ I didn’t think about Wynonna not having a ride home from school. She’s going to have to join me. _

Nicole took a deep breath, knowing full well that Wynonna would not take this news well.

“Okay. So instead of expulsion, Nedley decided to make me do some community service after school.”

“What kind of community service? Like picking up trash?”

“Not that, no.” Nicole was searching for the right words to say. “I have to stay after school on Wednesdays to help out with building the prom.”

Wynonna immediately bursts out laughing. “YOU HATE PROM! HAHA! THIS WILL BE PRICELESS! Wait, did you say every Wednesday after school?”

Nicole slowly nodded her head yes.

“Like right after school? Immediately after it? Meaning you can’t drive me home?”

“Meaning you will kind of have to join me.” Nicole winced anticipating Wynonna’s rage.

Instead of rage, however, Nicole was met with silence. Wynonna didn’t yell. She didn’t scream. She didn’t hit anything. She just sort of….sat there.

“Earp? Hello? Anyone in there?” Once again, no response. “Can you at least show me a sign that you’re still alive?” Wynonna lifted her left hand up and threw a middle finger in Nicole’s face. “Yeah, I guess I kind of deserve that.”

“I hate you for this, but, I still love you, you tall lesbian,” a smirk flashed across Wynonna’s face. Nicole smiled as well.

“Is there any other earth shattering news you’d like to share with me?” Wynonna questioned.

_ Should I tell her about Waverly? The hallway cheek kiss? Holding hands? _

“Not that I can think of, nope.”

“You sure?” Nicole could feel her cheeks getting red. “Because something about your face tells me something else happened after I ran away to the parking lot. Perhaps something with, I don’t know, Waverly?”

“Nothing happened, really. She just walked with me to Nedley’s office and held the ice pack on my hand and before she left she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek but that’s it.”

“SHE KISSED YOU??”

Nicole immediately pulled over to the side of the road.

“ON THE CHEEK, WYNONNA. CALM DOWN!”

“I WILL NOT REMAIN CALM THAT’S A BIG DEAL NICOLE!!” Wynonna grabbed Nicole’s shoulders and shook them.

“Don’t do that! Don’t hype me up for something that was absolutely just a platonic gesture of friendship!”

“NO IT WAS NOT, WE MIGHT AS WELL GO GRAB SOME DENTAL DAMS FROM CVS WHILE WE’RE AT IT.”

“WYNONNA I WILL KICK YOU OUT OF MY CAR, SO HELP ME GOD!”

“Kidding! I was kidding! Sorry. Look, I’m just happy for you, okay? You know I’m not good with the whole emotion thing. I’m trying my best here.”

“I know, I know.”

Nicole merged back onto the road and continued driving Wynonna back to the homestead.

…

__

A few hours later, Nicole is lounging on her bed, staring at the ceiling, unsure of what to do with herself. Her parents still weren’t home from work yet so she didn’t have to worry about the confrontation they would have just yet.

Nicole grabbed her phone and began scrolling through Twitter. Though she tried to stay off of social media, Nicole just needed a mindless task to occupy her for the time being. All was going well until she came across a video with the hashtag “#HaughtHead”. As soon as she opened the video, she wished she hadn’t. Someone managed to film the entire fight between Nicole and Champ, including Nicole’s coming out speech. She tried to find out who posted it but it was from an anonymous account. Nicole wouldn’t have cared if it wasn’t for the 5,000 views on the video. 

Nicole began scrolling through the comments. Some were overwhelmingly positive from people Nicole had never even heard of before, congratulating her on her coming out and knocking down a homophobe. Others were not so positive from people Nicole went to school with, but it wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before. Emotionally exhausted from the longest day of her life, Nicole threw her phone across the room.

As soon as the phone fell to the ground, it rang.

_ Probably Wynonna telling me about the video. _

Nicole walked over to her phone and picked it up. To her surprise, it wasn’t Wynonna, but Waverly calling. Nicole’s heart stopped. She checked the time.

_ Shouldn’t she be home from cheerleading practice by now? _

Her body filled with nerves, Nicole answered the phone.

“Hello?

“Nicole?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s Waverly. I hate to be a bother but are you busy 

right now?

“I am not, is everything okay?”

“Everything is...fine. Is there any way you could come 

pick me up from school?

_ Chrissy usually drives her home.  _

“Yeah, of course. I’ll be there in like 15 minutes.”

“Thanks, see you soon.”

It was very clear to Nicole that everything certainly wasn’t fine. She grabbed her keys and wallet and headed out the door.

Before dropping by the school, Nicole picked up some donuts for Waverly, knowing that they were her favorite treat. Nicole pulled up to the back of the school only to find Waverly sitting on the sidewalk in her cheerleading uniform, looking incredibly sad. Her face changed from a frown to a smile, though, when she saw Nicole’s car. Nicole noticed this but tried not to think about it.

Waverly opened the passenger side door where she was greeted to an entire box of donuts.

“Are these...for me?”

“Yup, one dozen vanilla dipped donuts.”

“They’re my favorite,” Waverly grinned and hopped into the car.

Nicole pulled out of the parking lot, her heart pounding harder than it ever had before. The car was filled with silence. Nicole didn’t know what she should say, or if Waverly even wanted to talk, or where she was supposed to be taking Waverly.

“Am I just bringing you back to the homestead?”

“Yes, please.”

“No problem.”

The next few minutes continued to be filled with silence. Until, finally:

“Thank you for picking me up, Nicole, on such short notice. Chrissy usually drives me home but…” Waverly’s thoughts began to trail off.

“Waverly?”

As Nicole pulled up to a red light, she looked over to see the younger Earp girl crying.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, sorry, I’m fine, just a long day.”

The light turned green but Nicole couldn’t seem to look away from Waverly. Nicole knew she wasn’t fine, but she didn’t want to push her. She continued to look at her until the car behind her honked.

“Calm down, you shit tickets I’m going!” Nicole yelled as she began driving again.

This caused a small giggle to escape from Waverly’s throat. “What are you laughing at?”

“‘Shit tickets’?”

“Okay, that wasn’t my finest insult but give me a break.”

Nicole continued driving, and the two remained silent.

When they were about 5 minutes away from the homestead, Waverly asked, “Can you pull over for a second?”

Nicole nodded and immediately pulled the car off the road.

“Are you okay? Do you feel like you’re gonna get sick?”

“No, no I’m fine Nicole. I just wanted to talk to you.”

Waverly’s eyes met Nicole’s. 

“Oh...okay, yeah, sure. What’s up?”

Waverly took a deep breath, which frightened Nicole for some reason.

“The reason Chrissy didn’t drive me home was because of what happened in the cafeteria today.”

“What?”

“Apparently I embarrassed her by making such a big deal about the whole Champ thing.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, so she told me she couldn’t talk to me anymore and left practice without another word.”

“That’s so shitty, Waverly. I’m so sorry that happened.”

“Thanks, but that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” This made Nicole’s heart beat even faster than it already was. “I wanted to ask you why.”

“Why what?”

“Why did you stand up to Champ like that for me?”

“Well, because you’re an important person in my life. I’ve known you for practically my whole life. And I would punch Champ over and over again if it meant I was standing up for you or Wynonna.”

“That’s really sweet of you.”

“Well, I mean it!”

A silence entered the car again.

“Can I ask you something else?”

“Of course.”

“Is there any other reason why you did it?”

Nicole froze. What was Waverly asking her this for? What does she mean “any other reason”? 

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“What I mean is,” Waverly gently grabbed Nicole’s hands, “is there another reason why you stood up for me today?”

Nicole didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do. She was sure that Waverly could feel her heart about to beat out of her chest. Suddenly, Nicole felt herself leaning forward and pulling Waverly into a kiss. Nicole immediately pulled back after realizing just what she was doing.

“I’m sorry. That was so out of line. I’m sorry. Let me just drive you home. Pretend that never happened.” Nicole grabbed for the gear shift to start driving, but right before she could move it, Waverly grabbed her hand.

“Waves, what are you-...”

Before Nicole could even finish her sentence, Waverly was kissing her. 

_ Holy shit. _

Waverly pulled away. Nicole sat there in shock, truly unsure of what to do.

“You taste like vanilla dipped donuts,” Nicole blurted out. “Yup, that was weird, I made things weird.”

“Shhh, you didn’t make anything weird.” Waverly was smiling from ear to ear, possibly even more than Nicole. “What you did today was so brave, and kind, and genuine, and incredible.”

“You deserve so much better than that dickhead.”

“You’re right, I do. And Nicole Haught, you are so much better than Champ.”

Nicole smiled. How could one day be so amazing and horrifying? Nicole put her hand on Waverly’s cheek.

“Is this okay, Waves?”

“This is definitely okay.”

The two fall into another kiss. 


End file.
